Strain
by RoastJack
Summary: Going into her final year at Hogwarts, Hermione and her companions find that finishing the year could be more difficult than they expected.


As far as the untrained eye could see Hermione was a very normal girl. She had normal parents, lived in a normal house, and occasionally had a normal boyfriend. Also it would be poor hindsight to say that Hermione was not beautiful. Perhaps we should start there. Far from the sad cry of femininity she had beheld when she was eleven, Hermione had matured immensely beyond her years. Her evened skin and deep brown hair had finally tamed and were fast becoming some of her most important assets. As far as genes go, one might say that she hit the genetic lottery. That is to say, she was not always this breath taking. No, Hermione had been ridiculed for her teeth, hair, and anything else that came up. Underneath all of the beauty and normalcy Hermione had one secret. She went to a boarding school. Not just any boarding school either, Hermione went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Ron! Harry!" Hermione cried. It was the first time that she had seen them since the previous end of term. There they were surrounded by the rest of the Weasley clan and a few members of the Order.

She ran over to them and embraced them all. Mrs. Weasley patted down her hair and commented on how much she had grown since their last meeting the two months before. In that time Hermione had been vacationing with her parents in Africa. Her mother and father had taken up a missionary trip to help families take care of their teeth properly. Hermione took this as an opportunity to help the people out. She distributed food, and clean water to less fortunate families (which incidentally included just about all of the families in the towns that they toured). She taught schools of children how to read and do arithmetic. She even helped to rescue an elephant with an African Animal Rights Society that was stationed in one of the towns that she had happened to be in.

"Hermione you look fabulous darling;that African sun certainly gave you a tan all of the other girls in school will be envious of", said Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh well thank you. Actually I tried to wear as much sunscreen as I could. The sun down there is much stronger." She turned to look over at Harry and Ron. Smiling up at the two handsome men that her best friends had become she took notice of their height, and more importantly the dense muscles spanning across their bodies. Harry had spent the summer at the Burrow with Ron. They worked on what they could with the Order, and Harry helped Ron work on his Quidditch skills. He had been made Capitan this year, which wasn't unexpected being the player with the most seniority. He had also been made the Head Boy, along with Hermione. This was unexpected. No one had anticipated Harry to walk with the title of Head Boy because he had never been made a Prefect.

The boys ushered her away from the crowd down the winding path that was Diagon Alley. When they broke out of the first turn Hermione drew in a sharp breath. There in the midst of everything was a large black building. She stared at it in awe. She glanced to Harry and noticed a dark look on his face.

"What is that"?

Harry grunted and started walking again. She cast a sideways glance to Ron and caught up to Harry.

"What **is** that"?

"It's called Acromu. Lucius Malfoy funded the building. It sells dark artifacts and books. The ministry just turns a blind eye to all the..." Ron paused.

"Activity", Harry finished for him.

"But, how can it be legal for them to do that? How does the Ministry allow for this to happen? When did this happen?"

"Hermione you have to understand that now that Dumbledore is gone and Voldemort is not, the ministry is having a hard time covering anything up. Half of them are being paid off and threatened to do **nothing**." Harry's demeanor had changed from dark, to depressed. He stared at the black building that contrasted Gringotts so blatantly. "It's their way of smuggling things and making illegal deals right under our noses. We can't do anything about it. The Order won't let anyone go in because we can't afford to lose anymore double agents. It's too much of a risk too soon."

The trio kept walking and came to the Quidditch shop. Hermione went in only because they said that they would look in the Antique Book shop on the other side of the street when they were finished.

The store bell jingled cheerily when they stepped in the door. The boys went directly to the back of the store. As Hermione had never actually been in this particular store before she followed suit. When the boys began chatting with a salesman named Marcus, she began to wander. She aimlessly walked through aisle after aisle of Quidditch supplies. After about fifteen minutes of milling through the store she came upon the section full of robes. All different colors and sizes Hermione ran her hand along the sleeves as she browsed the colors. Noises coming from the dark blues drew her attention away from the reds. Turning to see what the commotion was all about she saw a disheveled blonde girl hurrying out of the aisle. What came next surprised Hermione most of all. After the blonde girl she knew as Pansy Parkinson stepped Draco Malfoy. Shocked, and turning back to the reds he called out to her back.

"You. What are you doing? You can't just-", Hermione had turned around, face emotionless. Anger spread over his features. As he advanced on her Hermione's hand went for her wand. Standing inches away from her, towering over her 5'6" frame his eyes burned into hers. "My private life is none of your concern Mudblood. If you tell a soul about this little meeting I will make sure that you suffer. Take this as your warning to keep your fat mudblood mouth shut if you want to protect any of your family." He leaned in closer. "It would be a shame to have to kill beautiful little Mara". Malfoy turned without a second glance and stormed out of the store disappearing down the busy street.

Hermione was left speechless. She didn't care about his social endeavors. She didn't care about his family. She didn't **care **what kind of hair gel he used. But she did care about how he new her nieces name. Mara was her mother's sisters' adopted child. She was three years old. How Malfoy knew about her was a mystery but she became suddenly very aware of the danger that her entire family was in. Apparently while she was off helping those less fortunate, the wizarding community in London was becoming more and more agitated.

When the boys were done in the back and had made their purchases they noticed something was off about Hermione, but thinking it was just boredom from spending so much time in the store they pushed it to the back of their minds. They went into the book store from across the way and let Hermione peruse the many stacks of faded books at her leisure. They watched her from two lumpy arm chairs in a corner of the store inspecting the things they bought from the Quidditch shop just moments before.

After a few hours of browsing through the store Hermione had managed to narrow down her purchases to a dozen or so books. She looked to the corner where Ron and Harry were located and saw that they were playing chess. Walking over to them she realized how lucky she really was. Two of the most attractive guys at her school were her best friends. Letting them know she was done the three of them left together. They met up with Mrs. Weasley and floo'd back to the Burrow. When they arrived Hermione went up to Ginny's room to unpack her belongings and deposit her new books. She would be staying with them for the remainder of the holidays. Ginny was not there, however she had prepared Hermione's bed for her putting it next to the window as she liked. Hermione unpacked her things and washed for dinner. Afterwards she, Harry and Ron had decided to go back to Diagon Alley in the restaurant district because there was a new hot spot for all the young wizards to party.

Hermione went down to the kitchen to help Mrs. Weasley finish up the meal and set the table. When she stepped into the dining room she realized that there were to be many guests for dinner that night. At least twenty chairs surrounded the long rectangle table. She followed the sound of clinking silverware and simmering liquids and found herself in the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was standing in the middle of the kitchen flicking her wand this way and that, stirring sauces, flipping things that were in pans on the stove, and stacking dishes to be sent to the dining room.

"Mrs. Weasley, please let me help you with all of that," Hermione started.

"Please dear call me Molly. And I would actually love it if you would deal with the place settings. We will be needing nineteen sets. I would do it myself but I only just got the charms off of them. Fred and George came home for dinner last night. I didn't realize that they had put a shrinking jinx on them until just a moment ago when I picked one up." Sure enough there was a pile of broken ceramic littering the floor.

"Most certainly Mrs. Wea—eh..Molly. I will take care of all of this. You just concentrate on the delicious smells coming from your stove. May I ask who else will be joining us for dinner tonight?"

"Oh well yes Ron, Harry, You, Ginny, Arthur and I and a few members of the Order that work at the Ministry. Percy and the twins may stop by as well. I'm in a right state of mind because of these plates and now I will have to check on the soufflé halfway through dinner so that I can make sure that it is just a golden brown. I swear one of these days when Arthur says that he wants to bring home some of his Ministry friends I'm just going to say no. Ah.." She turned her attention back to the rising dough that was to be the dinner rolls that night and saw that it was rising out of control and only deflated to normal size when she poked it with her busy wand.

Hermione repaired the broken dishes and carried them out to the next room. She was laying down the silverware when Ginny and Ron came thundering down the stairs. Both red in the face and with Harry in tow, they were arguing over something.

"Ronald I don't care how overprotective you feel you need to be it needs to be STOPPED. I'm tired of you following me around lurking around every corner. I can't even have a conversation with a boy without you berating him about it."

"Gin I am only doing it for your own good. If you would just be more—", he stopped and turned with a horrified look on his face. "I do not lurk."

"Yes you do. You lurk everywhere. You're a crazed animal—".

"No Ginny I do not. That's ridiculous. Harry tell her that's ridiculous. I am just looking out for you Gin. I don't want any dunderheads taking advantage of my baby sister. I know what guys are capable of and I just don't want you to be exposed to that kind of treatment."

Ginny let out a frustrated yell. "RON. You are so stupid. Just leave me alone…." They continued bickering and Harry walked over to Hermione taking the spoons from her to set them where appropriate.

Ron and Ginny were still yelling when Mr. Weasley arrived.

He walked into the kitchen announcing his homecoming and told Mrs. Weasley to go get changed for dinner.

"Arthur I can't. This isn't finished yet and I can't leave it unattended and I,"—Harry interrupted her.

"Mrs. Weasley, Hermione and I can watch over all of this while you change. It's no trouble at all."

Mrs. Weasley nodded and scurried out of the kitchen to get ready while Hermione tended to the stove and Harry carried things out to the dining room. When the Order members arrived Mrs. Weasley had just come down the stairs wearing fresh clothes and newly done hair. By the time the final treacle tart had been placed on the table all of the guests had arrived.

Sitting down at the table across from Tonks and Lupin, Hermione gathered food onto her plate. Glancing up the table she noticed that Fred and George had made it after all. Everyone was making pleasant conversation amongst themselves. Listening in on the conversations of some of the Order members and chipping in a bit to a few, she soon learned that the household was now extremely open about the Order's policy. Before long, she had learned that several raids had occurred over her absence. One of which was in the Malfoy mansion. No one gave any specifics, but Hermione was just glad to find out that the Order had been so proactive in her absence. She was happy to hear that Lucius Malfoy and his family were under constant surveillance.

When the dishes were cleaned, and bellies fed the three friends set out for a good time at the young wizards club.

Walking down the cobblestone street towards the party district of Diagon Alley, the three chatted aimlessly.

"So boys, I've only been back a day, and I can't help but notice that neither of you have said anything about your lady friends," Hermione inquired.

Ron went pink, but it was Harry that spoke up. "Well Hermione see the thing is..we just…well..with this being our last year and all…schedules…and the stress….wise…don't…yeah..".

Ron nodded. "Yeah. We don't want to be tied down you know mate?" He grinned. She was surprised.

"Ronald! Harry! You mean to tell me that you have become womanizing, man whores? Just like Malfoy you have become the very bane of—," they interrupted her with scowls.

"Now Hermione, don't go comparing us to that git. We're better than that. We are having _relationships…_just not ones that last for very long. You see?"

"Indeed Harry? I know how I would feel if I were treated like one of those girls. I would be devastated. DEVASTATED I tell you. You listen here. I won't allow this behavior from either of you this year. I am putting my foot down. Your promiscuous behavior is coming to an end. Find decent girlfriends and stop treating women like trash." Hermione took a deep breath to continue but Ron interrupted her.

"Okay. Hermione alright—Hermione please—we get it. Okay. We will be nice. For your sake. Just for the record though: you are not nor will ever be one of "those girls". No man in his right mind would ever treat you like that."

Hermione smiled, knowing what he meant. Ron spoke again. "You are much smarter than that. We know it. It's the reason why everyone respects you so much."

"Not to mention more attractive," Harry added with a grin.

"Oh you boys. Just stop now. I'm blushing." The trio rounded the final corner greeted by the pounding sounds of bass coming from deep within the clubs spanned out on the streets before them. Lights adorned anything and everything: bright neon colors decorated the sky with enchantments as well as the streets and clubs themselves. Agreeing on a club called the "Dungeon" the three went through a checkpoint and entered the dark building. Not exactly the scene of a "gryff" the three surprisingly found several of their other housemates there as well.

The headliner for that night was the 'Dire Hags': An upcoming group of punk rock wizards with a sarcastic outlook on life that definitely showed in their lyrics.

As soon as they entered the building they felt the bass from the band thudding deep in the core of their bodies. Hermione scanned the crowed after waving to a few of her friends (and making mental notes to mingle later) she noticed how very full this club was. On the back wall was the stage where the band was playing. In one very larger corner were tables for eating. In another even larger corner there was not one bar, but two. Couches and poufs littered the area inviting them to sit and chat. Scanning over the high spirited crowed she watched the band for a few minutes not noticing that the boys had kept moving to meet up with Dean Thomas and a few other friends.

After a few minutes she noticed that they were no longer admiring the club as she was, Hermione began looking around for the boys. She knew that they could not have gotten far because they would never ever leave her there unaccompanied (especially after the lecture they had gotten from Mrs. Weasly before their departure). Spotting them in a group of couches and poufs she made her way over to them.

Progress was slow as she had to make her way through the gyrating crowd, which had become so loud and excited she couldn't even see the pouf-corner any longer because of the jumping fans surrounding her. Pushing and shoving her way past sweaty, shirtless guys (and girls) Hermione finally saw the boys again. Relieved, she let her guard down for a few seconds and found herself being shoved forward—farther into the depths of the crowd. Desperately clawing her way through the fans she found that she too had become sweaty and hot. Taking off her lavender cardigan stowing it on the crock of her arm she continued shoving her way to "higher land".

Finally after ten more minutes of being pushed in the opposite direction of where she needed to go Hermione was expelled out of the crowd. Relieved she wiped her bow. Another fast, loud song had begun playing. She decided that walking all the way around the crowd was the best way to get to Harry and Ron at this point. She had been out of their eye contact for at least 20 minutes now. Weaving her way through the tables where people sat, ate and chatted, Hermione finally saw a straight shot to her friends. Bee-lining it through the part in the crowd, a hand reached out and grabbed her wrist. Turning, Hermione found that not only was it an unwelcome hand it was also one that was unknown to her. Wrenching her arm from the strangers grasp she turned on her heel again, only to see that her path had once again been blocked.

Glancing over her shoulder noticing the man that had grabbed her was standing to follow her, Hermione quickened her pace. Shoving even more roughly though the crowd—this one being far less insurmountable than the former—she quickly made head way. The man right on her tail was closing in.

Slamming into a hard body, her attention was brought to the large mass in front of her.

"Whoa there Hermione, why the hurry? Where have you been? Harry and I have been looking all over for you." Ron smiled down at her.

"Hermione! What happened? Ron and I were worried sick," Harry began. Glancing over her shoulder, his smile faded away. A deep voice caused her to spin around.

"I saw her first little boys. I'm buying her drinks tonight." The man in her wake had finally caught up and obviously thought that she wanted company.

Looking to Ron and Harry for rescue they took the cue to step in. "Actually mate, she's _with_ us." Sizing them both up and deciding that they were more than he could handle he shrugged and walked back to his table.

Hermione thanked the boys for rescuing her and told her the story. Satisfied and much more at ease the friends say and continued to chat. Drinking plenty Butterbeer and some

Firewisky (to the dismay of Mrs. Weasley), they had become far more lax than they had been before they walked in. After about an hour a new band stepped onto the stage. The noise from the crowed had soon become deafening.

Securing her cardigan around her chair, and straightening her tank top, Hermione ventured back into the sea of sweaty teenagers with Harry and Ron both flanking her.

Jumping with the crowd and singing along the drinks had certainly warmed the trio up.

After an hour or so they decided that their ringing ears needed rest. Leaving the club in considerably light spirits they staggered down the streets singing obnoxiously and laughing.

Stumbling into the Burrow in the early hours of the morning, the boys went to their room upstairs to sleep, and Hermione crept noiselessly into Ginny's room. As soon as she hit the sheets she fell into a dreamless sleep.

Loud banging awoke her next. Groggily looking to Ginny who seemed just as confused as she was Hermione stared confused at the bedroom door. Through her fogged mind she heard Mrs. Weasley stumble down the stairs to answer the door.

She heard a muffled cry followed by the door clicking shut.

Then, she heard the sound of a chair scraping against the floor in the kitchen as a tired body collapsed into it. Again Mrs. Weasley took to the stairs but this time she flew into their room. Wearing a pink night dress and desperately clawing curlers out of her hair she spoke in a desperate voice.

"Girls--get up. Now. Go sit in the kitchen and wait for Arthur and me to get back down there. Don't ask questions. Move quickly now." She was gone.

Looking to Ginny who was still equally confused the girls walked to the kitchen to see the source of the late night meeting.

Percy sat in a chair head in hands covered in dirt and looking quite the worse for wear.

When the rest of the house had arrived looking sleepy and grumpy, Mrs. Weasley rushed into the kitchen wearing normal street clothes along with Mr. Weasley. Both looked wide awake at this point.

Mrs. Weasley bustled around the kitchen making coffee and food for everyone to eat while Mr. Weasley and Percy walked into the next room to whisper hurriedly together.

"Mum…what is all this about?" Ginny was the source of the question. She had recovered from the violent separation from her bed first.

Mrs. Weasley ignored her and glanced to the next room where her husband and son were returning.

Sitting at the head of the table and rubbing his temples, Mr. Weasley sighed. The whole kitchen was silent and watching.

"Family. I have grave news," he began. "Acromu has been destroyed."

Silence greeted him. It was Harry who spoke first.

"Mr. Weasley, sir, why is that a bad thing. Isn't it a building where evil is created and stuff? How do we know it wasn't a mission from the Order?"

"Harry this was no job of the Order, and its bad for a number of reasons. First of all, it is no small fire. Half of Diagon Alley is ablaze right now. Secondly, because it is such a bad fire it could be possible that they set it on fire themselves."

"Why would they do that dad," Ginny inquired.

"To hide things. Secrets," Hermione spoke up.

"Exactly Hermione. Exactly. That is what the Order is most concerned with. All other damage aside, this fire is most devastating to the Order's work. We had a sneaking suspicion that they were hiding things there. Not just little things like spell books either. Big wartime things. Big secret wartime things. If they created this fire that means that they moved whatever it was; and we have no idea where."

The kitchen was silent.

Hello readers. Author here. Just letting you know that I am no fan of "A.N.'s" so there won't be any. I just want to make sure that you all know some things while this thing is getting started. **First** of all this is my first fanfic. Well the first one that I intend on continuing. I'm not promising to be good at it. Cut me a break or two. **Second**: this chapter took me a long time to write—I'm busy. I'm a perfectionist—so I edited it about 25 times before I was semi satisfied. Also, 4000+ words a chapter is demanding but I would love to continue it..so don't be surprised if I can't update every week or whatever—I'm doing the best I can. I forgot the third thing. I'll keep this moving right along though. **Fourth**..**ly**..I'm trying really hard not to make this a stupid story. This will be a Draco/Hermione fic but give it time. They hate each other. Its not going to change just because she's got good hair. I've got a plan. Don't worry. **Fifth**: reviews are appreciated…but a note—don't expect me to write all of your names out and thank you individually. This may not be the best thing for me to say to potential reviewee's but you have to know..I find it distracting. I hate reading stories where a large portion of the chapter is part of the AN. I'm not all about that. **Six**: I'm from the USA. I know that this culture is different than that of the United Kingdom..but I'm really trying to make it fairly believeable. Some kudos there. I think that wraps it up. I will try to write short blurbs after each chapter..but don't expect anything profound.


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